LISLE, Ill. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team (0-5, 0-4 NACC) played its second top ten team already this season on Tuesday night with a trip to Benedictine University (4-0, 4-0 NACC). Although the Regents battled hard from start to finish, the seventh-ranked Eagles proved to be too much, winning in straight sets 25-10, 25-16, 25-15. Rockford's Nathan Vana had an excellent evening attacking the ball. Vana finished with a season-high 10 kills, which is just three off the school record, set earlier in the year by James Davenport.

• Rockford played even with the Eagles in the opening moments of the first set.
• The Regents led 3-2 before Benedictine retook the lead and then Rockford tied the set at 4-4. Nathan Vana, Jeremy Weaver and Matthew Seger all had a kill during that span. 
• However, the Eagles promptly used a 7-1 run to jump out to an 11-5 lead. 
• Rockford would then narrow the Eagle lead slightly with a 4-2 run of its own to make it 13-9. Connor McNear led the offensive attack with a pair of kills and a service ace. 
• Unfortunately, Benedictine scored the next six points en route to taking the opening set 25-10.
• Benedictine wasted little time jumping out to a quick 4-1 lead in the second set. 
• The Regents were slowly able to chip away at the lead and pulled within a single point at 9-8. Rockford used kills from Nathan Vana and Da'Quan Bates, as well as taking advantage of numerous Eagle miscues to close the gap. 
• The two schools continued to go back-and-fourth as Rockford still trailed by just two at 17-15 late in the second set. 
• The Eagles would put the Regents away with an 8-1 run to close the set strong and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
• The third set belonged to the Eagles from the onset.
• Rockford quickly fell behind 7-2 and never led in the set. 
• The Eagles would extend their lead to as many as 10 points en route to taking the set 25-15 and winning the match 3-0.

• Nathan Vana played very well on Tuesday against tough Eagles squad. Vana finished with a team-high and season-high 10 kills. He also added 2 digs and 1 assist to his totals. 
• Jett Stewart finished with 18 assists, 3 digs, 1 kill and 1 block assist. 
• Trey Perez tallied a team-high 8 digs and 1 assist. 

The RU men's volleyball team returns to the court on Friday, March 5 at home against Illinois Tech. The match has a scheduled start time of 7 PM in the Seaver Center.